Myriad: The Road to Sanctuary

"While I was trapped on a bed of-" Tyrian stopped, eyes widening as the spoon fell from his hand, landing on the table with a loud clatter. "No. Fucking. Way." He felt something tick his skin, sending shivers up his spine. Events like this were never the ones you heard good things about in stories, these were the things use to keep kids p at night, to keep them in line. "And he kept going on about a 'curious ripple in destiny'? Fuck. Fuck." He had to resist slamming his hand against the table and drawing attention. The last thing you wanted when dealing with such matters was to let a random crowd know about it. Tyrian dropped to a harsh whisper. "Are you telling me that some bloody magic man is connecting our heads? What the hell does this mean!?"
 
"Your guess is as good as mine." Glacir shook his head. "All I wanted to do is go to Solus and open up a forge, but now this is happening? What is going on? Why is this happening?"
 
The girl sat opposite Tyrian, as wide-eyed and in awe as he was. Having vaguely similar dream to someone, even a few weeks apart, was a little weird. Having the same dream at the same time though was downright creepy. Kestral gulped quietly, her throat suddenly feeling as dry as a desert. She reached for a nearby pitcher of watered down ale, probably the cleanest thing to drink on the ship, and poured some into a glass. Despite it's horrid taste, the female much more used to the sweet wine which was an Aerie speciality, the slight tang of alcohol on her tongue would help take the edge off. "Shit me. What the hell is going on?"

Her voice broke the faint silence that had settled between the trio, the girl spinning her half-empty cup around in circles on the table. She took another cautious bite of her apple, not willing to waste the precious and somewhat scarce food item. Tyrian's apple she would keep for later though, she decided. "I've never heard of anything like this ever happening." She added, wetting her lips and tracing patterns that were in the wood of the table-top.
 
"Well, either of you make a deal with a demon or something?" His hands repeated a rhythm of nervous tapping as he went over the information again, looking back on every word the man had spoken, anything that could clue them in. This terrified and angered Tyrian at the same time, he grew up mostly on the streets due to the necessity of the job, he'd spent his life wrapped in the web of shady deals and untrustworthy words. So many masks, so many opportunities to stab one in the back. IN that line of work, there was one sanctuary you'd always have, that others couldn't get to. Your mind. Your own private brain space. And that had just been violated. "We're cursed, that's gotta be it. He's gonna pop up any minute to say that we owe him now or something"
 
Kestral leaned back carefully. The situation was rushing at her all at once with a myriad of questions whizzing around her head until she felt dizzy. The girl paused for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest and slowly but deeply breathing in. The girl forced herself to let the air sit in her lungs for a few seconds before she slowly released it out. "Okay. The important thing here is not to panic, because that's how you miss little clues. Does anyone remember what exactly it is that he said to them, because it's a little fuzzy in my own brain. We also need to found out if it was more than just the three of us that this happened too."
 
"He said... He said..." Like an addict anxiously awaiting their next hit, Tyrian's fingers tapped against the table vigorously, each tap sparking a memory as he looked for anything relevant to the dream. "We were in-between life and death... He knew everything that was going on... All that destiny crap..." Another hand rolled its wrist, clicking fingers, hoping to catch one of the fading memories of the incident between the two outstretched fingers. "Gift. GIFT! H-He said something about a gift, uh.. Helping us out? The star, us drinking it... Links to magic and fate? He told us to come and find him"
 
"I don't recall him saying where, though. Why us, though?" Glacir had his hands together, his eyes closed, trying to think.
 
Kestral listened to him explain what eh remembered, her own pieces of memory falling into place to match his as he spoke. She scrunched up her face though as he spoke, only giving her opinion when he was finished speaking and Glacir had given his own remark. "What sort of destiny involves throwing a group of strangers, from different regions and with different personalities, onto a random boat heading to nowhere? Doesn't sound like destiny to me. More like putting random items into a snowglobe and shaking it around to see what happens." She placed an elbow on the table, leaning her chin on it as she thought. "Also...how are we supposed to find some elderly gentleman who lives in a house of clouds? This is all seems more like a hallucinated dream than a prophecy or even instructions."
 
"For kicks? I dunno" He returned to his gruel, chewing on the cheap replica of food helped his focus as he looked back to a suggestion both of his compatriots made. "Yeah, yeah, we need to go and find the other survivors of the Rot. I'll bet they had the same dream, otherwise, there's some other thing that connects us" He felt that itching in his arm again now that the fear crept up to irritate him, but this one wasn't as distracting. "Maybe they'll know what he meant by 'gift'. Did he leave a package or something?"
 
"Well, if there's some guy in the sky messing around with my life and my memories for kicks, he'll be getting kicks but more of the physical kind...preferably from me." She huffed, skewing her mouth this way and that as she thought. Although she was immensely baffled by what was going on, she couldn't help but feel a small amount of hope revving to life inside of her. It turned out, that even after she had lost so much, there still might be something giving her a purpose in this life. Before, she had thought that her job was to make sure she protected the people of Aerie, keeping her community safe and out of harm's way. When she failed to do that, abandoning it out of her need to survive as well, it had left a gaping hole inside of her. This weird mess though, this connection to the other people on the boat, meant something though and that was exciting.

She stood, unable too keep still. The girl pulled out one of her daggers, flicking it between her fingers almost dangerously while she chewed on her lower lip. "How do we go about asking people if they're had the same dream? If they're like us, then most likely it's every single person who managed to wake up after coming down with Rot. I don't exactly think going up to every one of the survivors and interrogating them though is going to do the trick."
 
"That might be our best option, though if we were to go around asking people, I'd suggest not coming on as...abrasive when asking questions. I also suggest we start near the sick bay." Glacir said with his eyes shut.
 
"Yeah, I want to give him the whole 'Oxis Gift Basket'. Knee to the closest thing the guy has to testicles, then to the broken knees and before we go, set his house on fire" Tyrian spoke calmly now, an air of venom in his voice as he moved to sit himself on the edge of the table, his tone and facial expression being telling that the 'Oxis Gift Basket' wasn't exactly an exaggeration. Though, he didn't recall anyone ever trying it on a clearly magical entity. "But we know nothing about this guy, except apparently he likes giving off a powerful feel. Whether he's actually imposing or just sells the act, trying to fuck with this guy could be foolish. Our priority should be to know what the hell he wants first" He finished up his bowl and lazily pointed upwards. "Everyone on this ship is heading to Solus, he knows that, he specifically pointed that out. And Solus? Well, rumors definitely paint quite the picture. I wouldn't be surprised if he's waiting for us there. Maybe he's a true version of all those tales you hear about this hellhole we're sailing into"

Ffully moving to his feet, mind clearer and focus regained, he noded at Glacir. "Don't need to be abrasive, just straight up mention aspects of the dream straight away. If they had the same dream, they'll probably instantly be curious how we knew"
 
"Perhaps." Glacir opened his eyes and saw that Kestral was spinning her daggers. "Miss, those are lovely daggers. However, I have to ask you to not spin them near me. I don't need another cut on my body."
 
Tyrian gave out his own violent consequences for the man who had seemingly spoken to all of them, his promised actions sending a small shiver down Kestral's spine. She was deep in thought when Glacir suddenly spoke to her, the female pausing in her pacing. "Hm? Oh, I'm sorry. It's a force of habit when I'm trying to think. I would never hurt you...on purpose that is. The worst I've ever done is loose focus and dropped the darn thing. To be fair....I almost made Caleb, my friend, lose a toe during the slip-up." The girl thought back to the male she had often been paired with during scouting duty, fond memories bringing a momentary smile to her face. When she remembered the slim chances Caleb had had of escaping though, with no sign of him being alive when she had briefly returned, her smile disappeared once more.

She sheathed her weapon once more, the metal sliding into the leather hold with a slick and smooth sound. Kez sighed, scraping her hands through her hair before storing the extra apple in her satchel. "If we're going to start figuring things out, why are we still waiting around? I need some fresh air to clear my head and sitting around is not going to get us any closer to finding and speaking to the other survivors." She strode towards the exit to the kitchen area, waiting there for Tyrian and Glacir to catch up while she shut her wings close to her once more. Outside, the wind had picked up, an unbeknownst and localized result of Kez's suddenly frustrated mood.
 
Glacir got up and followed Kestral. "Some of the other survivors should be on the top deck, yes. I suppose some fresh air would be good," Glacir said.
 
"Well, don't be dropping anything on our toes" Tyrians jokingly requested, moving to follow her while patting the pocket where his flintlock was concealed from view. "And I won't explode on you" As he said this, he pulled out a small box where the crimson surface of a red crystal could be seen peaking out. He always kept a myriad of crystals handy as they multiple properties could always find a use in a tight situation. "To the top we go then. A real trio" He walked behind Kestral, seeing as she was so grumpy when approached with help, and followed.
 
"I wouldn't even think of it...unless you deserved it." Kez teased back, speaking to Tyrian over her shoulder while she transversed down the corridors. Having been down here already to get to the medicine woman, it was a short trip back to the top decks. When he showed her the crystals, she was reminded of the one he had given her temporarily, thus once they reached the top deck and she could loosen her wings enough to reach her satchel, she pulled it out carefully and placed it in his palm with soft fingers. "I don't need this anymore, thanks for letting me use it though while I was waiting to get my things."

The female scanned the decks, looking around for anyone who looked somewhat like they had risen from the decks. The stronger wind was apparent up here out in the open, most of the rain finished sputtering down but the grey clouds still persisted to hang in the air. The cool breeze brought goosebumps to Kestral's arms underneath the jersey, not because of the cold but because of her thoughts of flying. Most of the mist was gone to, and although the weather was cold it was clear enough for her to have a quick go in the air. Her wings stirred restlessly with the idea, fluttering ever so lightly.
 
The woman was getting to close to Teresa. She took a step back and looked at her gaze. Teresa was confused as to the nature of the question asked. The spirits? Who is this girl? What does she know?
Teresa considered her response and looked into the eyes of the woman and responded

"Do you know about my father? Is he dead? Is it my mother?" she said, visibly confused and overwhelmed with the knowledge of the fur cloaked woman.

The wind was picking at Teresa's' hair. It reminded her of mother. She used to comb her hair as she fell asleep by the fireplace, looking out into the wild ice wasteland. The world. Full of mysteries. A young Teresa climbed off her mother's lap and made her way to the window, the outside world. It was out there, Teresa was too scared to go out. She had heard her mother and father argue about the ethics of keeping a child in a house. Words of emotion, too complicated for a child to understand but yet impacting to her physique.
 
"Hey, you'll find my feet are perfectly fine; nothing you'd ever want to mercilessly cut" Tyrian felt the load in his lungs lighten as they ascended the steps, taking in that shitty, fish-filled air and letting the relief infect his lungs. When her fingers pushed a warm object into his palm, his hand naturally pushed forward to trap her fingers in his grip. It was a natural reflex for Tyrian by this point, beaten into him over years of pickpockets and tomato flinging. His eyes flicked down to her hand, surprised to see the crystal piece he gave her before looking back up to her eyes to nod. "Oh, the crystal? Yeah, no problem" He let go of her instantly, hoping he didn't come off as needlessly aggressive as he rose up the stairs.

He was hit with a full burst of cold wind against his face as he came to the top deck, his eyes meeting the uneven waves bobbing the ship sideways. Around them, the mist picked up, almost covering the horizons with an ominous fog. Something definitely felt off, shouldn't the wind be blowing it all away? And again, his arm itched. "Well, doesn't look as shit as I was expecting"
 
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